Faculty

Catalin R.Picu, Professor and Associate Head for Undergraduate Studies

Research | Bio Sketch | Publications/Patents | Contact
 

Research Center Affiliation:

General Areas of Research:

· Solid Mechanics
· Polymers
· Nanotechnology
· Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems

Research Activities:


The motivation for the research performed in Professor Picu's group comes, in part, from the continuous miniaturization of manufactured devices, in particular that of electronic devices and MEMS. This decrease in scale implies that the overall performance of the components is determined by processes taking place in smaller and smaller volumes of material which, in turn, requires a better control of properties of materials at the atomic scale. Another motivation for the research in nano-mechanics is supplied by the observation that the macroscopic behavior of materials, described by constitutive laws, is determined by the mechanical behavior of defects, at the atomic scale. These issues are approached both experimentally and by simulations. A detailed description of the research programs and results obtained to date may be found at:
http://www.scorec.rpi.edu/nanomechanics.